Piers Courage

Summary

Piers Courage was a brewing family scion from Great Britain. He began his racing career in 1961 after befriending fellow driver Jonathan Williams and racing team manager Frank Williams. Piers was only 28 when he was killed at Zandvoort, the Netherlands in June 1970. His fatal wreck was a result of a number of circumstances, not the least of which was the poor handling of his De Tomaso, Italian made race car. In the 1960s and 1970s numerous European drivers were killed, in Formula 1 events and other motorsports classifications. Another English driver, Roger Williamson, lost his life in an inferno type crash similar to Piers', just two years later. Eerily the wreck also occurred in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Williamsons' fatality happened only 50 yards from where Courage had perished.

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Piers Courage - Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr

Piers Courage

Published by Robert Grey Reynolds Jr. at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 by Robert Grey Reynolds Jr.

Piers Raymond Courage (May 27, 1942-June 21, 1970) began his racing career in 1961. A native of Colchester, United Kingdom, he debuted in Formula 1 on January 2, 1967. He drove in 29 Grand Prix races, earning two podium finishes and scoring twenty championship points.

A descendant of a noted brewery dynasty Piers was truly consumed by a passion for racing. He learned about the sport initially when a friend lent him a copy of The Vanishing Litres, a nonfiction about the Bentley team's experiences at Le Mans. Soon his room was plastered with pages from Autosport Magazine. Its ceiling donned a checkered flag.

Piers entered motor racing after he became acquainted with Jonathan Williams (October 26, 1942-August 31, 2014) who was called up by Ferrari in 1967 in South Kensington. Piers first became a part of Jonathan's circle on July 2, 1961, a rainy day at Mallory Park, when the two men met Frank Williams.

In 1962 Piers received a Lotus 7 kit car as a gift from his father. Soon

Courage eschewed accounting and began to race full time. Supported by

Jonathan Williams and his parents he ascended to the international level of racing by 1965. Jonathan and Piers